Did I Make You Proud?
by ZamShazam1995
Summary: This is my own Damian death story. In lieu of Batman Incorporated coming out tomorrow, I thought I'd write Dick's perspective to watching another brother die. One-shot


"Robin!" I yelled past the man in front of me. He took a swipe at my exposed chest, eliciting a small wound through my suit. I knocked the blade from his hand and socked him up in the chin. He let out a grunt and fell to the floor in front of me.

I watched Damian fall to the ground in front of the bulky man with the smoking gun. His tiny hands gripped his chest as he sunk to his knees with shocked eyes.

I threw my batarang as fast as I could, knocking the man on the back of the head. He fell back a few inches before slowly tumbling off the roof, gun clattering beside Damian on the rooftop.

I ran to him and fell to my knees.

"Oh my god." I pulled him into my arms, his eyes seemed to look past me. "Damian stay here, Bruce will be here any minute now."

He gave a half smile, showing the bravery that had been instilled from early childhood. His fingers grew even whiter as blood soaked from under his palm, staining his shirt.

"Bruce, you need to get here. Damian's been shot." I radioed Bruce, expecting him to freak out. He would let another one die. He couldn't let another one die.

"Grayson…" He muttered and I looked back down to him. "That was stupid."

"What was?" I pushed back a few stray hairs that littered his forehead.

"I could have blocked that shot." He muttered again, eyes focusing hard on me. He was smart, he knew what to do to stay alive.

"It's okay Little D." I smiled at him, putting my hand on top of his. I could feel his fast pulse beneath his small palm. His hand moved and he let out a little moan when the cool air hit the wound.

It was bad. Really bad. The blood seemed to pump out at an imhuman rate, only seeping more of his clothing. His chest rose and fell with less vigor and I knew he was going into shock.

"Is this how Todd bit it?" He asked softly, his face growing paler. I bit my lip, holding back tears.

"Jason? No, no he… he was different." I tried to smile while rattling off conditions in my head. _Jason never had cardiac ballistic trauma. _He was going to die if I didn't do something.

I lifted him up while he took a ragged breath. He had a dark exit wound on the back of his spine. This was bad, very bad. There was literally nothing I could do.

"He died alone." He didn't smile as I placed him back down on my lap.

"Damian, stop talking about death. Please, can you move your fingers and toes?" I said down to him. He blinked several times before giving me shaky thumbs up before narrowing his eyes.

"I…I can't feel my toes, Grayson." In that moment, he wasn't a soldier. He was scared, and he was a child. He was going to die and he was scared and his father was not here to be with him.

My stomach dropped but I didn't show it. "It's okay Dami, it's okay."

I pulled his cape from around him and he shivered when I placed it on his chest, curbing the bleeding.

"Hold this." I instructed as his little arms gripped the cape on his chest feverously.

"Grayson…" He said fearfully. "I'm cold."

"I'm here." I held him closer, keeping him warm.

"I'm going into shock?" He questioned. He knew too much for his own good.

I considered lying as I watched Bruce jump to the roof, "Yes, but it's okay. Bruce is here."

"Dick!" Bruce ran to us, getting to his knees cape fanning behind him. "What happened?"

"He is going into shock." I looked around to me, at the blood we were sitting in. "Cardiac ballistic trauma."

"Damian." He pulled the child into his arms. Damian closed his eyes and seemed to nuzzle into his father's touch.

I then noticed the blood soaking through my sleeves. It was too much for him. He wasn't going to make it. I clutched the cape tightly in his small fingers and he winced when Bruce touched the hold in his back.

"Bruce." I said, looking to his hopeful eyes. "He's not going to make it."

"Don't say that." He snapped as Damian's little eyelids fluttered open at the noise. He said softer, "Don't you say that to me."

"I'm sorry father." He muttered, looking up to Bruce. Bruce cradled him in his arms like a little bird. He was his son. He was watching his son die.

"Don't be Damian. You did the best you could." Bruce smiled for the boy. I felt a tear roll down my cheek watching them.

"Did…did I make you proud father?" He asked, eyelids fluttering. He was close now, it wouldn't be much longer. Bruce looked to me and I nodded before he looked back to his son, biting back everything inside.

"Yes Damian." He said softly. "You made me the proudest father ever."

His palm cupped Damian's cheek as Damian's eyes smiled back to him. They stayed open for a few moments even after his life left him. He just looked forward to Bruce, unseeing. Bruce's teary smile dropped and he closed the boy's eyelids.

I got up silently and wiped a tear from my eye. The blood still stained my clothes as I mourned with Bruce for a few last minutes. But I left him there, in the end, holding his son for the last time.


End file.
